Restoration work in the 20th century was begun in 1932 by the American Byzantine Institute, during which most of the figures were uncovered. Due to its long history as both a church and a mosque, a particular challenge arises in the restoration process.

The Christian iconographic mosaics are being gradually uncovered. However, in order to do so, important, historic Islamic art would have to be destroyed. Restorers have attempted to maintain a balance between both Christian and Islamic cultures.

In particular, much controversy rests upon whether the Islamic calligraphy on the dome of the cathedral should be removed, in order to permit the underlying Pantocrator mosaic of Christ as Master of the World, to be exhibited (assuming the mosaic still exists).

Hi I just got back from Turkey in March. I was collecting my pictures and searching for spellings and more indepth info on what I saw and might have forgotten. You said you would like to know what those large egg-like containers were in Hagia Sofia. My tour guide told us they held water that was used for the ablution before prayer in the mosque. Hope this helps.
Great Pictures!
-Kyle

Nice shots of Hagia Sophia! I found your site through the WordPress Tag Surfer. You have a really nice site. Have you thought about visiting southern Turkey, namely Adana and Antakya. Antakya claims to have the largest moasic museum in the world. I have some photos from a moasic musumem I visited recently on my Flickr. It was a small musuem in an unassuming town, but the cool thing is that there’s a huge moasic floor in it’s origional location… covered and turned into a musum basically in the middle of nowhere. It’s a great reminder of how much amazing stuff there is underground in Turkey. Enjoy your stay.